


A Loss of Traction

by ElijahDarling



Category: For the People (TV 2018)
Genre: Coming Out, For Political Gain, M/M, OR IS IT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 15:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18034364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElijahDarling/pseuds/ElijahDarling
Summary: "The last minute hit piece before the polls opened had caused an apocalyptic reaction in the Knox family - though an outsider would have never been able to tell with the perfectly put on smiles and composed dispositions. Still, Leonard feels the grip of his mother’s hand on his arm like a hot brand and sees only bared teeth while cameras flash and capture her polite smile.“Fix this.” She murmurs."Leonard asks Seth to be his last minute date.





	A Loss of Traction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TeaNSympathy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaNSympathy/gifts).



> family dynamics are complicated.

The last minute hit piece before the polls opened had caused an apocalyptic reaction in the Knox family - though an outsider would have never been able to tell with the perfectly put on smiles and composed dispositions. Still, Leonard feels the grip of his mother’s hand on his arm like a hot brand and sees only bared teeth while cameras flash and capture her polite smile.

 

“Fix this.” She murmurs.

 

Before anything else, he is his mother’s teammate. It is better than being her prop - although the difference between the two often comes down to Leonard volunteering rather than being volunteered.

 

Senator Melora Knox has had a… touchy history with LGBTQ+ rights and where she’s cast her vote, and when she had been an up and comer in the 90s she’d made some controversial statements that at the time had been fairly progressive and now were best left in that decade.

 

His mother has had a touchy personal history with her own son’s affairs, but that is family business, and also best left in past decades.

 

When a reputable investigator journalist publishes an exposé on her professional history with the community and happens to imply a measure of sympathy for Leonard in being raised in such a household? Especially considering that the reporter got that perspective from his college roommate that Leonard had never brought home for Thanksgiving partially because he knew his mother wouldn’t approve of the man but also because he knew it would hurt his mother because it was _a_ _man_ , period.

 

Well, there’s damage control, and then there’s damage control when the road is slick with ice and you lose traction with the road.

 

You steer into the motherfucking skid.

 

* * *

 

“What.” Seth Oliver, when he is alarmed, doesn’t ask questions - he exclaims them like they might serve as buffers between him and incoming reality.

 

“I need a date for tonight and I’d like to take you. Please tell me you have some better suits than the ones you wear to work.”

 

“You know I don’t. No. Wait - a date - as in a _romantic_ date? _With me?_ ”

“Obviously. What are your measurements? I’ll have to get a guy on it right now if we want half a chance of you looking like you belong on my arm.”

 

Seth stammers about a somewhat coherent reply while Leonard texts his mother’s stylist that he knows has her finger on the pulse of every stitch witch from here to Texas. She’s also used to working on Knox time; anything worth doing is worth doing _now_ , and often while doing three other things at the same time.

 

He schedules Seth for a fitting within the next two hours.

 

Seth never actually agrees to be his date with words, but standing there in a suit that actually flatters for once, he looks in the mirror and sees a man playing the role of arm candy for Leonard Knox. It’s… not a bad look.

 

* * *

 

While Seth is getting fit with a pre-made suit that is getting tailored for him, Leonard is emailing a reporter he’s been intimate with before. The sort of intimate that involved late night cramming sessions back in college before she realized 1. That she never wanted to be a lawyer and dropped out to pursue journalism and 2. That she was a lesbian.

 

They’d stayed vaguely in touch.

 

“I have a story for you.” He writes.

 

“Why am I not surprised to hear from you.” She replies, but also sends his little ‘personal essay’ on to her publisher, because Leonard is attracted to women cut from the same cloth as him.

 

He looks up at Seth staying still for Darla’s pins and yet still running that Midwestern mouth even under threat of being stuck. Seth has Darla talking about her grandkids. Darla never says more than five words to Leonard at a time and those five words are usually “You’re just like your mother.”

 

Leonard doesn’t really understand what sort of men he’s attracted to.

 

* * *

 

His article is up and running its little legs in the news cycle while they take a cab over to where his mother is hosting her biggest supporters in a black tie event. It’s a “thank you for being there with us during the final stretch of this campaign” party that can easily transform into a victory party if she pulls through in the polls and gets re-elected.

 

It can less easily become a place for her to give a concession speech. As far as Leonard knows, his mother and her staff have never written one.

 

Seth is a hit. While everyone else at the party comes to small talk with faux-interest or veiled undertones, Seth is a breath of fresh air with sincerity coming off of him as easily as dopey grins. The women can’t decide if they want to eat him for breakfast or take him out to dinner and the men don’t see him as a threat. Seth is doing decently at hiding his bemusement every time Leonard introduces him first as his date and then as his colleague.

 

“It’s amazing to me that you’d admit to knowing me at all.” Seth whispers to him at one point in-between handshakes and Leonard hides a grin.

 

One of his mother’s donors compliments him on his piece in The Washington Post and presses two kisses to his cheeks. Seth overhears. (Well fuck.)

 

“Article?”

 

“Yes, that lovely piece our Leonard wrote about being a homosexual. So brave.”

 

Seth emotes far too much for a party full of donors, campaign aides, and lobbyists, Leonard decides. Especially once the dopey smile dries up and what remains is clear contemplated homicide.

 

* * *

 

They end up in the coat check closet. Of course.

 

“Are you actually pretending to be gay to get your mother votes? Because _I swear to God -_ ”

 

“Alright, but while you’re swearing it can you do us both a favor and lower your voice?”

 

“Leonard, you are my friend, but I will never speak to you again if you are using me for your mother’s re-election.”

 

Leonard briefly allows himself to imagine a world where he and Seth do not speak. It would likely get in the way at work. It also may get in the way of Leonard getting the chance to take off Seth's well-fitted suit off at the end of tonight.

 

“Wait. Here.” Leonard brings out his phone and with a few practiced clicks pulls up his piece. He hands it over. “Read this, and then we’ll talk.”

 

Seth eyes him dubiously, but takes his phone.

 

And so there the two of them stand, in the closet while one feels his palms begin to sweat and the other reads a story of a young man, dumb and fumbling in love and going to the woman he trusts to have his back - his mother.

 

In a perfect world, there’s space enough and time to out yourself as bisexual to the public and ask your crush to accompany you to a party as a proper date without turning the whole thing into a Senator Melora Knox political circus.

 

But Leonard Knox runs on Knox time - anything worth doing is worth doing now.

 

Both of them come out of the coat closet in time to hear that the polls have closed.

 

* * *

 

His mother is resplendent, and her eyes hold only the faintest of glimmers - something likely only Leonard can see under her victorious smile. She knows what it took for him to write that article - and to send it.

 

She says nothing about it, just presses a gentle kiss to his cheek, nods at Seth and murmurs, “I like your young man, Leonard.”

 

She is whisked away by a crowd of supporters. Seth catches Leonard’s hand and squeezes.


End file.
